Das Schreiben ist eine Seite lang. Die erste Hälfte ist mit Handmaschine gedruckt. Und handschriftlich unterschrieben. In der unteren Hälfte ist eine handschriftliche Notiz mit Bleistift vorgenommen. Das Dokument ist leicht vergilbt.

Letter from the Bremen Public Health Office to the Lüneburg Institution dated March 3, 1943.

Die Einweisung ist leicht vergilbt. Sie ist eng bedruckt und mit Schreibmaschine verfasst. Angaben zu Lars Sundmäker und der »Kinderfachabteilung« Lüneburg sind dick gedruckt. Das Schreiben ist handschriftlich unterschrieben.

Committal order issued by the »Reich Committee« on April 8, 1943.

NLA Hanover Hann. 155 Lüneburg Acc. 56/83 No. 405.

LARS SUNDMÄKER (1937 – 1945)

Lars Sundmäker was from Bremen. His parents were Carl, a civil servant, and Anna Sundmäker (née Buchmann). Carl Sundmäker worked at the employment office. Lars had a brother and lived a sheltered life with his family until 1943.

Then his father was drafted into the war and his mother had to take care of her sons alone. During the air war, many bombs were dropped on Bremen, and mother and sons had to spend a lot of time in the air-raid shelter. There, Lars was expected to behave calmly. But Lars was overwhelmed and afraid. His mother thought he would be better off in a place without bombings and applied for him to be placed in a home. Because of Lars‘ disability, Sister Antje from the counseling center for the physically disabled at the Bremen Health Department requested his admission to the Lüneburg institution and nursing home. At the same time, Lars and another child from Bremen, Claus Stock (1939–1943), were reported to the »Reich Committee.« However, the committee was not willing to cover the costs.

Field post letter from Carl Sundmäker to the Lüneburg Institution and Nursing Home dated February 19, 1944.

Field postcard from Carl Sundmäker (No. 57948) to his son Lars Sundmäker dated December 28, 1944, front and back.

NLA Hanover Hann. 155 Lüneburg Acc. 56/83. No. 405.

The parents were then required to pay the care costs. Since they did not have the money to do so, Lars was taken home from the »children’s ward« in Lüneburg by his mother on July 12, 1943, »against medical advice.«

Then the situation changed. Unexpectedly, their home was occupied by bomb victims from Hamburg, and the family was moved to emergency accommodation. This was too much for the mother to bear. After the Bremen social welfare office agreed to contribute to the care costs, she asked Medical Director Max Bräuner to readmit her son to Lüneburg. The stay was only supposed to be temporary, until a new home had been found.

On August 3, 1943, Lars was admitted to the »children’s ward« for a second time. In early 1944, he received a visit from his father, who had been granted a short leave of absence before his transfer to Italy. The father was horrified by his son’s condition. He told Max Bräuner that his son would be brought home as soon as possible. But no new home could be found, and the mother was repeatedly relocated.

His father wrote letters and postcards, inquiring about his son. The last postcard reached Lüneburg after Lars had already died. He died on January 3, 1945.